


How (Not) to Keep A Secret

by Free_Spirit140



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Complete, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Sick Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-04-28 18:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14455203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Free_Spirit140/pseuds/Free_Spirit140
Summary: Keith and Lance’s guide to keeping a secret on the castle ship (trust them, they learned from their own mistakes)Or; The rest of the team find out about Keith and Lance’s relationship, one by one.Has this been done before? Takes place as a type of alternate time line, just because I can’t think of when this would be  in the series.





	1. Rule 1 – (Don’t) Avoid Public Areas

Hunk paced nervously in front of the altean tech that acted as their space-oven, chewing his lip and stealing glances at the device every couple of second. He resisted the urge to keep opening the space-oven to check on his creation, he knew it would only make them come out wrong.

The timer gave a small ‘ting’ and Hunk all but threw himself at the device, throwing open the door and pulling out the tray with his already gloved hands. The smell of warm almost-chocolate-chip cookies filled the kitchen and Hunk had to stop himself letting out a squeal of delight.

It had been 3 weeks since they had found the chocolate-like substance on one of the planets they had been visiting. The Paladins had gone all but mad when one of the aliens had placed a tray of the brown treats in front of them, devouring the entire tray in a matter of seconds. It had tasted almost exactly like chocolate, the only difference between it and chocolate being that this didn’t have the same sweetness (Hunk insisted it could be rectified with the addition of sugar). Once the rulers had seen the Paladins delight over their food the queens of the planet had offered them a large supply and rights to return and collect more whenever they wished. They called it ‘a sign of the developing bond between their planet and the Voltron Alliance’ but the Paladins all had a suspicion Allura and her curiosity had something to do with it.

Hunk had since mastered his ‘not-quite-chocolate milkshake’ recipe, ‘his damn-near-chocolate mousse’ recipe and his “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hot Chocolate’ recipe (2 guesses on which Paladins had helped him name them). Hunk had, however, yet to masker his chocolate-chip cookies. Finding space alternatives for cookie dough ingredients was proving to be a challenge. He had offered up the space equivalent of oatmeal and chocolate cookies and instantly had the rage of Pidge and Lance turned on him full force. Hunk silently agreed with them, oatmeal cookies weren’t the real thing.

Now, after 3 weeks of trying to make cookies that didn’t have even a single space-oat in the recipe, it appeared Hunk had done it! The smell wafting through the kitchen certainly gave that impression anyway. Hunk had been wrong before though, getting his hopes up before taking a bite of his creation and finding it tasked like shoe leather to his perfect palate. He threw that batch out without another look, even he wasn’t willing to try and eat more than a mouthful.  
Hunk waited impatiently for his new batch to cool, hoping on hope that they came out correctly. It had been a tough week for all of them, tensions had been running high due to Allura increasing the amount of training they were doing, so the team could use a pick-me-up.

As soon as the cookies were cool enough for him to pick up he tried one, burning his mouth on the still slightly melted not-chocolate, but not caring. He had done it! He had mastered the art of making Space-Chocolate cookies! They were perfect!

He scrambled to gather all of the cookies into a container to take to the others, they had to taste them whilst they were fresh! Hunk bee-lined for the common room, almost tripping on his feet in a rush to get there.

His thoughts of sharing his tasty treats with his team were shattered, however, when the automatic dorms opened into the common room. The container of cookies was promptly dropped to the floor as his hands instead went to cover his mouth. Because there, on one of the sunken couches, was Keith and Lance.

That alone wouldn’t be a big shock, if it wasn’t for the position they were in it would seem near-enough normal. But no. The way they were sat made the situation completely foreign and very, very confusing.

Keith was sat with his legs curled on the couch next to him, pressed into Lance’s side with his body twisted to face the blue paladin. One of his arms was wrapped around Lance’s neck whist his other hand was gripping Lance’s shirt, pulling the other boy closer (even though it was pretty much impossible for them to get any closer in Hunk’s opinion). The blue paladin was returning the gesture by twisting his body to face Keith, his arms wrapped around the red paladin’s waist. And, they were kissing. Or, they had been before the sound of Hunks tub of cookies hitting the ground made them snap their attention to the door.

In one fluid motion the two paladins were separated, faces flushed and both trying to stutter out sentences that weren’t quite making it past their lips. Hunk just stared, eyes wide, cookies forgotten on the floor.

“Well, uh, I, uh… didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just…” Hunk spun on his heels, doing a full 180 turn before hurrying back through the automatic doors, mind racing.

“H-Hunk! Buddy wait!” Scrambling could be heard before the doors slid shut behind him but Hunk continued to walk.

What the hell had he just witness?

…

“H-Hunk! Buddy wait!” Lance scrambled to climb over the back of the couch, rushing to the door with Keith hot on his heels. Lance stopped and turned to his boyfriend as the door wooshed open “Let me handle this?” Keith gave a reluctant nod, retreating back to the couch “Ah, uh… no...” Lance interrupted, receiving a questioning look from Keith “My room?” Lance asked, flushing slightly and scratching the back of his neck.

Keith smirked, giving a small scoff “Really?”

Lance flushed further “Yeah?”

“Alright then.” Keith muttered, smile playing on his lips.

Once Keith had left through one of the other doors Lance resumed his Hunk hunt. He retrieved the box of broken… were those… cookies?! Okay, no. Not important! 

One thing at a time Lance! He retrieved the box from the floor and ran after his best friend, catching up to his speed-walking friend halfway to the kitchen.

“Hunk!” Hunk didn’t stop walking, facing straight ahead as he kept up his pace “Hunk! Wait!”

Hunk stopped but still didn’t turn to face his best friend. Lance let out a frustrated sigh, slipping past his friend so he could face him “Hunk, buddy? You okay?”

“Y-yeah, sure, why wouldn’t I be okay? I’ve just seen my best friend making out with his rival on a couch in the middle of a flying castle in space. I’m better than okay, I’ve come to the realisation my entire existence for the last, however long it’s been, has been one giant fever dream.”

“Hunk, dude, calm down.” Lance scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, biting his lip and dropping all eye contact with his friend “It’s… complicated. I can’t really explain it…” Lance risked a glance up.

Hunk’s eyes had softened slightly and he opened his mouth to talk but Lance held up a hand to silence him.

“We’re, you know, official. Before you ask. Have been for a while… we’re not really ready to tell people yet? We’re kind of enjoying having something… private?” Lance bit his lip, looking away again “So… if you could… like…”

“Not tell anyone?” Hunk cut across.

Lance nodded.

“Of course I won’t! It’s not my place!” Hunk stated, eyes widening.

“I wasn’t accusing you dude! I just… needed to make sure…”

Hunk gently placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder, smiling at him “Are you happy with him?” Hunk asked, tone gentle.

Lance nodded eagerly, not even trying to stop a smile from overtaking his face “Yeah!”

“I’m glad.” Hunk smiled back and Lance finally felt his shoulders relax and the tension that had been in his muscles vanished.

“Oh!” Lance’s eyes widened as he quickly held the box out towards Hunk “I forgot! I grabbed these off the floor. They’re a little broken but, hey! You made cookies! Are they good?”

“Would I be bringing them to you for a taste if they weren’t?” Hunk grinned, puffing out his chest with pride as he took the container “Want to help me gather the others for some cookies and milk?”

Lance felt the heat return to his face and raised a hand to scratch his cheek, suddenly finding interest in the floor “I… uh, actually…” Lance pointed his thumb over his shoulder, sneaking a glance at Hunk.

Hunk looked baffled for a second before realisation suddenly crossed his face and he also lost the ability to maintain eye contact “Uh, right yeah. Other plans I guess….” He kept his eyes locked on the area where the ceiling met the wall “What should I tell the others? If they ask?”

Lance gave a small laugh, devious smirk appearing on his face “None of you have questioned our absence before now.”

“DUDE!” Hunk yelled, letting go of the container with one hand to cover his face “TMI!”

“Sorry dude. Gotta fly!” And like that Lance turned on his heels and ran towards his room, satisfied his best friend would keep the secret “Save us some cookies for later yeah?” He called over his shoulder.


	2. Rule 2 – (Don’t) Watch out for Younger Siblings

Pidge was just about done with vermin. D.O.N.E. Done.

This was the third time this week one of her tools had vanished from her tool station and she was 100% sure the little space-vermin were the cause.

Now don’t get her wrong, the space mice were cute and all, and she could quite honestly say they were fun to have around… when they weren’t sticking their noses into other people’s business and going through her stuff.

You would think the space mice would not be the first entities she would point her finger at, Hunk and Coran would surely be the more sensible, educated guesses, right? WRONG! Pidge knew the little punks were behind this for two reasons. One, no one had been in Greens hanger besides her on the days the objects went missing, and two, the vermin were known for stealing things. Many a time Pidge would have to throw herself flush against the corridor walls to get out of the way of Coran, who would be chasing the four offenders out of the engine room whilst yelling altean profanities.

Coran usually kept his cool very well in situations like that, but the little suckers drove the moustache loving man up the wall as much as they did Pidge. Allura theorised this was partly due to the Mice refusing to make Coran a sandwich. Coran denied it.

Anyway, she was getting side tracked. Pidge’s priority for right now had to be finding the space-rats and getting her tools back.

She contemplated checking the vents, knowing the mice could easily fit into them, as could Pidge, but the thought left her mind when she realised the tools the mice had stolen wouldn’t fit through the vent covers and the mice sure as hell weren’t strong enough to pull the covers off.

No. The little pests would have had to use the hallways. The best way to check the hallways? The security cameras.

Pidge headed for the bridge, muttering the entire way about how she wished she could trade the space mice for those floating fluffs she found when she had been separated from the other. The space fluffs didn’t have hands or paws. No hands or paws meant no picking things up. No picking things up. No picking things up meant NO STEALING PIDGE’S SHIT!

As soon as Pidge entered the bridge she threw herself into the green paladin chair and pulled up the security feeds. She had no idea what time her things were stolen so she couldn’t waste time trolling through hours of footage to identify where the mice took her tools. She settled instead for trying to locate where they currently were, hunting them down, grabbing the leader by the ear, and demanding they return her things. What could she say, she was a green ball of fury when pissed off.

Her eyes flew from screen to screen, searching for the little devils thee castle called pets. Her eyes froze however, on a much more unusual scene. Keith and Lance in Lance’s room.

Pidge hit record instantly, grinning at the sight of Keith lying on Lance’s bed, head on Lance’s lap. Lance was leaning his back against the wall, hands combing through Keith’s hair, occasionally pausing the repetitive movement to start braiding before continuing combing after receiving an absent-minded slap on knee from Keith. The two were clearly talking, although it seemed fairly one-sided since Lance’s mouth was the one moving the most. Keith randomly chipped in and Pidge cursed the fact she couldn’t lip read. That thought flew from her brain however when Lance doubled over and planted a kiss on Keith’s forehead.

Pidge watched as Lance returned to his previous position and the conversation started up again, ending the recording when it was clear nothing else of interest was going to occur. She grinned to herself, quickly sending the recording to her laptop, a plan already forming in her head.

She could use this.

…

If Keith was a cat, he’d be purring right now. Alright so he probably shouldn’t say “if he was a cat” because technically speaking, he was part Galra and Galra, as Lance and the rest of the team loved to remind him, were pretty damn cat like. But regardless, Keith had never been more content then he was right now.

Lance was gently combing his fingers through Keith’s hair, talking quietly about how this reminded him of when he did his sister’s hair on earth. Keith really didn’t mind being compared to a 12-year-old girl, he had come to learn that being compared to any relative of Lance’s was a big compliment. The Cuban boy really adored his family in a way Keith was only just coming to understand. It made him happy that he could provide Lance some form of reality from earth in the chaos that was their lives.

“If you want to go to sleep feel free,” Lance’s voice roused Keith from his thoughts, the feeling of warm breath hot against his ear as Lance bent over to whisper directly into it. Keith hadn’t even realised he was drifting off “you don’t have to listen to my rambling.”

“I want to.” Keith murmured, his voice coming out slower and more sleep-filled then he would have liked “It’s just…” Keith gestured vaguely with his hand towards where Lance was combing Keith’s hair with his fingers.

Lance hummed in response, planting a kiss to Keith’s forehead before retreating back to his sitting position “You should sleep. You worked really hard during training today. You worry me sometimes.”

“No need to be worried.” Keith mumbled, eyelids drooping against his will as Lance resumed combing through his hair, using both hands this time. Lord help him.

“There is every need to be worried.” Lance stated, keeping his voice soft and soothing but still firm somehow. How Lance was able to do that still baffled Keith to this day “One day you’ll overdo it you know. You’ll get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine Lance. Training bots don’t kill.” His voice was going slow and groggy again, he hated it. How could one boy do this to him with something as simple as running his hands through Keith’s hair?

“They might not kill but they can hurt if you set the level too high. What if one day you push it too far? Or you overdo it on a day that the Galra attack and you’re already exhausted? I worry.”

“I know you do.” Keith mumbled “I worry about you as well. That’s part of being in a relationship.”

Lance hummed again, more thoughtfully this time, hands pausing their work on Keith’s hair for a second or two before they continued “Enough talk for now. Sleepy time.”

Keith couldn’t bring himself to do more than hum in acknowledgement as he felt his consciousness drift again.

And all too suddenly the tranquillity of the moment was lost and the doors flew open. Wait… hadn’t they locked those?!

Pidge stormed in and suddenly it made sense, damn that girl could hack anything! Keith sat up as he observed the girl, covering her eyes with one hand and holding a laptop with the other.

“Stop all the lovey-dovey stuff, you have been caught purple handed!” The girl demanded the second the doors were closed and some of the privacy was restored.

“Purple handed?” Lance asked, voice clearing giving away distress at being caught despite his attempt at deflecting Pidge’s attention. Or maybe Keith had just become really good at reading Lance.

Pidge cracked her fingers apart to allow herself to peek out of one eye, she scanned the two momentarily before letting the hand drop from her face all together “Yeah. Purple handed. Red and blue make purple? I spent the entire walk here coming up with that. I was proud of it!”

“It sucked.” Lance deadpanned, the tinge of colour on his cheeks making the words a little less effective.

“Cut me some slack, the walk is like 5 minutes.” Pidge snapped.

“What are you doing here Pidge?” Keith asked, glad that his voice lacked the sleepy tone it had earlier.

“I saw you~” the girl sing-songed, smiling at the two boys in front of her.

“Saw what exactly? We’ve been here talking.” Lance stated. Keith caught on quickly.

“A lot more then just talking if you ask me and the security camera.” Pidge beamed, eyes practically glinting as she opened her laptop and turned the screen to face the two boys.

“You recorded it?!” Lance squeaked, eyes widening. Keith felt a stone drop into his stomach.

“I sure did!” Pidge stated, closing the laptop “It’ll be a nice one to play at your wedding.” Keith felt his stomach flip.

Lance observed the girl for a minute, calculating look his eye before he leant back against the wall “What’ll it cost?”

“For me to lose the recording? Or for me to keep quiet?” Pidge brought her free hand up to her face to examine her nails, running her thumb over the fingernails.

“For you to keep your mouth shut and delete the recording.” Lance stated, keeping his eyes locked on the girl in front of them.

Pidge seemed to contemplate it for a while, eyes leaving her nails, her index finger coming to rest on her chin. Scratch that, she was mocking them “Both of your servings of cookies and puddings for however long you bozos decide to keep this quite.”

Keith had to fight back a laugh, it was times like this he was reminded that Pidge was a 14-year-old girl used to doing deals with her older brother about chores and not just some super genius hacker.

“Deal.” Lance stated.

“I’m not done.” Pidge stated, shifting her weight onto one foot and planting her hand on her hip “I will require your help on future projects, no ifs, ands or buts.”

“Done.”

“Ah ah ah.” Pidge warned, waving her finger at him, Keith clearly forgotten about now.

“You can’t want more!” Lance exclaimed.

“If you don’t want to agree to it I can hit a few buttons and have the video playing on loop on the giant screen on the bridge until everyone else has seen it.” Pidge threatened.

Lance was silent for a moment before leaning forward to put his elbows onto his knees “I’m listening.”

“You have to promise whatever this is,” she vaguely waved her hand between the two “it won’t get in the way of game night.” Pidge stated before adding as an afterthought “Which you are now formally invited to Keith, so long as the love-bird stuff stays U rated.”

“Deal.” Lance stated.

“Say the words.” Pidge warned.

“I promise Mine and Keith’s relationship will not get in the way of our weekly game night. But honestly Pidgey you didn’t need me to promise that. I love game night with you and Hunk!”

“Alright then.” Pidge mumbled, before snapping back to her previous demeanour and holding her hand out to Lance who stood up and took the hand. Lance gave the girl a firm handshake before using said hand to pull her into a hug. Keith watched as Lance whispered something into the girl’s ear that caused her face to light up with a smile before she was released.

“Don’t have too much fun you two~” she sang as she practically skipped out of the door.

Lance flopped back onto the bed and the two boys resumed their positions.

“What did you say to her?” Keith asked cautiously.

“Nothing.” Lance answered a little too quickly, but Keith couldn’t bring himself to care because his hair was gently being combed again.

Keith would forever be thankful his boyfriend knew how to deal with younger siblings.


	3. Rule 3- If It Is Visible It Will Probably (Not) Be Seen

Shiro was used to eating breakfast alone. It had become a constant that he secretly treasured. When it was early enough that everyone else was still asleep. Well, everyone except Keith, who had likely already had breakfast and had moved onto training.

It meant that for a few hours, Shiro could sit in silence and just relax. It was overrated, silence that is. When you were stuck in a war to defend the universe you realised just how overrated silence is on earth. Moments where you could simply sit with your own thoughts came few and far between. Which is why Shiro treasured the silence that came with waking up early.

Which was why Shiro was so shocked when Keith walked into the kitchen, half asleep.

Shiro watched as Keith flopped into the chair opposite him, bowel of food goo in hand and seemingly unaware of Shiro’s presence. Shiro smiled, clearing his throat and watching as Keith seemingly jumped about a mile out of his chair, eyes focusing for the first time since he entered the room.

“Morning.” Shiro mumbled, masking his smile behind his drink “You’re up late. Rough night?”

“Mpf.” Keith acknowledged, taking a spoon of food goo and placing it into his mouth. The teenager rested his elbow on table and his head in his hand, the other hand playing with the goo and occasionally brining the spoon to his mouth.

Shiro tried hard not to laugh, he really did, but Keith was usually so on edge and aware of his surroundings that it made seeing him in a half-asleep state so much funnier to the man who had acted as Keith’s older brother for so long.

Wait… was that… Lance’s shirt?! Was Keith wearing Lance’s shirt?! Shiro opened his mouth to say something when his eyes landed on something far more concerning.

“Keith… is that… a hickey?”

…

Keith froze.

No. No no no no no. No.

This was not happening. It was NOT happening.

“Keith?” Shiro prompted.

Keith’s hand instinctively shot up to cover his neck “It’s not a hickey! The… uh… training bot hit me whilst I was training yesterday!”

Shiro looked unconvinced, leaning forward in his seat and placing his elbows on the table “The training bot doesn’t hit above the chest.”

“It’s not a hickey! Who would eve-“

“Lance?” Shiro cut across, voice deadly serious.

“N-no?”

“Keith,” a small smile was playing on Shiro’s lips and he gestured to Keith’s body “you are wearing Lance’s shirt.”

Keith froze again, eyes widening to what he guessed must have been the size of dinner plates. He slowly looked down at his top, breath hitching as a curse slid past his lips.

Shiro attempted to hide a smirk behind his drink, faking taking a sip. Shiro really was a piss poor actor.

“I mean… I can explain…” Keith cursed his half-asleep brain for failing to be able to think of a reasonable excuse.

“Take your time.” Shiro stated, watching Keith with a now serious expression.

Keith thought hard for what felt like an eternity before letting out a sigh and meeting Shiro’s eye for a brief second “What if… it was Lance?”

“I’d have to have the big brother talk with him.” Shiro stated, folding his arms “How long has this been going on?”

“A few months? Five or six?” Keith mumbled.

“You don’t sound sure.” Shiro stated, leaning forward more to the point where Keith was surprised he was still sitting upright.

“I didn’t expect to be interrogated!” Keith defended, wishing now he had waited for Lance to wake up before venturing out of the room to get breakfast. Lance would have seen the hickey and been able to do something!

“Alright. Fair enough.” Shiro lent back in his seat, conceding a point to Keith “You should tell the team though. In case something happens that makes it hard for us to form Voltron.”

“Nothing will happen.” Keith mumbled “Lance and I already spoke about this before we made anything official. We won’t let anything get in the way of the team.”

Shiro sighed “It’s your decision whether you tell people or not I suppose. But if I get even the slightest indication something is going wrong, I will step in.”

“Fair enough.”

“Go get changed before Pidge come in to get coffee.” Shiro was once again trying to hide a smile as Keith got out of the chair and grabbed his food.


	4. Rule 4- Being Sneaky Never Works

Lance let out a huff as he slumped against the wall next to Keith’s bedroom door, the frustration at being kept waiting building up inside of him. Keith didn’t usually keep him waiting at the door like this, it usually only took a second for Keith to call out permission to enter. Keith had to be in his room though. Lance had checked every other room in the entire damned castle after he had been kept waiting when he first knocked on Keith’s door two hours prior.

But the silence that was currently answering Lance’s knock was starting to make Lance think he should recheck the training deck. Lance sighed again, knocking harder on the door and calling out to his MIA boyfriend. When he once again received no call to enter he gave up on being polite.

He pressed his hand to the palm reader, allowing his boyfriend’s door to slide open. Lance would be forever glad they registered his palm print to Keith’s door as well. Lance slid in the minute the automatic doors were far enough apart for him to fit between when moving sideways.

The sight that greeted him was not a pretty one and it instantly caused Lance’s heart to jump into his throat.

Keith was lying on the floor, front down, limbs spread, with his duvet wrapped around his neck like a cape. The raven haired teen had his eyes closed and was breathing unevenly, breaths coming out laboured and as nothing more than a huff most of the time. His hair was plastered to his face and the back of his neck with sweat and every so often his eyebrows would scrunch up in very clear pain.

Lance rushed forwards, kneeling down at Keith’s side and carefully rolling his boyfriend so he was on his back. Keith let out a groan of protest and Lance quickly moved Keith’s head onto his lap and pressed a hand to Keith’s burning forehead. Keith lent into the touch, clearly taking pleasure from the contact that was colder than the fire that was his forehead.

It was clear to Lance that Keith was still asleep, or at least out of it enough to qualify as asleep. Lance bit his lip, eyes tracing Keith's flushed face and hand moving to brush the hair from his forehead. Keith’s eyes shot open, bright yellow and glowing with the pupils reduced to nothing more then slits. Keith let out what could only be described as a pained scream, hand shooting to his face to cover his eyes, body appearing to fight against unseen chains as fangs came into view in his mouth.

Lance had to restis dropping the other in shock, instead cradling him close and trying to make himself heard over the screams “Keith?! What’s wrong?! Talk to me!” When the only answer Lance got was more screaming Lance wasted no more time picking Kieth up bridal style and running from the room.

Keith continued to wither in his grasp, struggling against an unknown force and Lance had to fight to keep him from falling out of Lance’s arms and onto the floor.

“It’s okay Keith! You’re going to be okay!” Lance wasn’t sure he believed his own words as Keith struggled in his grasp, pained screaming getting caught in his throat as his voice became hoarse.

Lance picked up the pace to a sprint, mind racing faster than the red lion, heart hammering so fast he was sure it was about to break out of his chest. He was oblivious to the fact he was crying until he felt the tears running freely down his face, the cold water doing nothing to ease the fear building his his chest. Guilt gripped his chest as he realised not moments before he had been angry about Keith not responding. Hours earlier he had knocked on the door and there had been no reply. Quiznack knew how long Keith had been lying unconscious and in pain on his bedroom floor. He was such a bad boyfriend.

He skidded to a halt outside of the med bay, the doors not opening nearly fast enough for his liking. Only a small amount of relief flooded his system at the sight of Coran, Allura and Pidge inside, clearly tinkering with something. Lance didn’t care.

“Guys!” Lance had to yell at the top of his voice to make himself heard over the sounds Keith was currently making “Help! Help him!”

Coran dropped whatever he was holding, running forward to grab Keith from Lance who honestly didn’t want to let go. He knew, he knew Coran could help more than he could but- oh Dios, oh maldito Dios, Lance did not want to let go of Keith when he was so fragile. But he did.

Allura was over to the controls for the healing pods in a flash, and Pidge was by Lance’s side. Was Pidge taller? No. Lance was on his knees. When the hell did that happen? Pidge was saying something, so were Allura and Coran, but the sounds just mushed together in Lance’s mind, brain fuzzing until there was nothing but blissful darkness.

…

Pidge’s eyes widened in horror, catching the now unconscious Lance before he hit the floor. He was clearly in shock, which was not good. The only working pod was now being used for Keith, and Pidge was glad they kept that pod working whilst they upgraded the others “Just in case,” Pidge had said “never know what will happen.” Thank god for advanced planning.

Pidge struggled to get Lance onto his back, him weighing more than her meant that trying to shift his dead weight backwards and move his legs so they weren’t underneath him was a challenge to say the least.

She managed it though. She hated how he was right in the doorway, on the cold hard floor when what he needed right now was warmth, but she couldn’t pick him up. He was taller and heavier, and now he was dead weight too.

She grabbed blankets, water packets for when he woke up, and something that acted a lot like the ‘snap-to-activate’ hand warmers she had owned on earth. She activated them before wrapping Lance in blankets and shoving the heat packs under the blanket as well. Lance also needed something with sugar but she wasn’t about to leave him on his own to go to the kitchen. Sure he had Allura and Coran but those two were currently busy taking care of Keith, going over his vitals and theorising what could be wrong with him.

Pidge ran to Allura’s side, reaching the intercom and slamming the activate button. The speakers around the castle buzzed to life and Pidge could hear her own voice from the hallway “Hunk, Shiro, get to the med bay now! It’s Keith!” she slammed the button to turn the speakers off again and ran back to Lance.

It took exactly 20 seconds for Shiro to tear into the med bay, Hunk hot on his heels. Pidge gave a rushed explanation as Hunk picked up Lance and moved him over to the side of the room. There were no beds in the med bay, there was no need for them when you had literal healing pods, so Lance ended up lying half in Hunk’s lap, half on the floor.

“What happened to Lance?” Shiro asked, returning from the control panel where Allura and Coran were programming the pod Keith was in. Pidge hoped that meant they had figured out what was wrong with him.

“He passed out. I’m pretty sure it was from shock.” Pidge pushed her glasses further up her nose “He came running in here with Keith in his arms in a complete panic.”

“Ah yes, your love being in distress and pain could do that to you.” Coran stated as he wandered over with Allura. Pidge almost choked on air.

“W-what? How did you- when did you-” Hunk stuttered, before quickly shaking his head to right his thoughts “How do you know they’re in love?”

“You knew?” Pidge accused, eyeing Hunk with the best stink-eye she could give.

“It is fairly obvious,” Allura chirped from beside Coran, smiling “they’ve been holding hands under the dining table for the last 4 months.”

“So I guess that means everyone knew.” Shiro guessed, though it was said as more of a statement than a question.

“I’ve known for a while,” Hunk mumbled, face going red as he looked at Lance and then Keith in the healing pod “Walked in on them making out in the common room.”

“I’m so glad you said ‘making out’ and not what I thought you were going to say.” Pidge mumbled before straightening up “I saw them having a soft, tender moment on the security cameras.” Pidge sighed. Guess she had to give up her extra pudding and help. Damn.

“Keith was walking around in Lance’s clothes.” Shiro stated, smirking in a way that suggested there was more to the story “It wasn’t hard to figure out after that.”

There was a moment of silence before Pidge turned her attention to the Alteans “So,” she started “What’s up with Keith?”

Allura sighed “We believe he caught a common galra-specific illness that usually only causes coughing, a slight fever, nausea and drowsiness. As I said, it is common and usually passes in a few days with no problems, however I believe the illness being galra specific has caused Keith’s dormant galra genetics to activate to try and combat the illness.

“In short his galra genetics are becoming more dominant. He has grown fangs which are not likely to retract. His eyes have picked up a yellow glow and his pupils have shrunk which I believe may have enhanced his night vision. This may be a temporary thing however, or something that only occurs at night if he follows the same pattern as other galra half-breeds. I do also believe his ears are… changing.”

“Changing how?” Shiro asked cautiously, they all knew the answer.

“They are growing in size and they are growing purple fur. It’s likely a very painful experience. As of right now we are unsure if anything else is likely to chance, it is uncommon for half-breeds to only start showing a mix of features after becoming ill. They are usually born with a mix of features.

“This is unknown territory for us. The good news is however, that the pods are able to speed up the process which was already going fairly quickly. He should only be in the pods for a few varga before the changes are complete.” Allura sighed, turning her attention back to Keith “He will still be ill however, the pod speeds up physical healing but illnesses such as this are another matter.”

“Well,” Pidge started, looking at Keith, who’s now purple ears were starting to become visible through the raven-turning-dark-purple hair “I say we let his boyfriend deal with that.”

The others hummed in agreement as Pidge moved back to setting up the upgrades for the other pods.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't expect all updates to be this long and this quick to be released, I may or may not have gone all out because I was in a writing mood and I may or may not stan Pidge... woops? Hope you enojoyed! See you soon!


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